Cold-emailing to Hiring Partner or Alum Partner? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I want to get a job in nyc (as a recent jobless graduate) and there are some partners who went to my law school.

Which one would be better to cold email to Hiring Partner or Alum Partner who does NOT practice in my target practice area? For instance, I want to do corporate transactional and those partners are head of lit.

V100 law firms..

Thanks for any inputs!

[Anonymous User]

I want to get a job in nyc (as a recent jobless graduate) and there are some partners who went to my law school.

Which one would be better to cold email to Hiring Partner or Alum Partner who does NOT practice in my target practice area? For instance, I want to do corporate transactional and those partners are head of lit.

V100 law firms..

Thanks for any inputs!

I used to do this during my 1L summer. I framed all the coffee meetings/lunches as asking them what it was like to practice in that city, in that firm, etc. and then just about all of them offered to pass on my resume. I got a few interviews/offers out of it. It might be a bit more difficult for you to frame your meetings as anything other than looking for a job if you are graduated. I guess it can't hurt to try though.

I can't really speak to whether it is better to target partners within or outside your target practice area. Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

I want to get a job in nyc (as a recent jobless graduate) and there are some partners who went to my law school.

Which one would be better to cold email to Hiring Partner or Alum Partner who does NOT practice in my target practice area? For instance, I want to do corporate transactional and those partners are head of lit.

V100 law firms..

Thanks for any inputs!

I used to do this during my 1L summer. I framed all the coffee meetings/lunches as asking them what it was like to practice in that city, in that firm, etc. and then just about all of them offered to pass on my resume. I got a few interviews/offers out of it. It might be a bit more difficult for you to frame your meetings as anything other than looking for a job if you are graduated. I guess it can't hurt to try though.

I can't really speak to whether it is better to target partners within or outside your target practice area. Good luck!

I did the same. I think the hiring partner will just forward your email to recruiting so no different than just applying online. Alum partners are much more willing to grab coffee and talk which can lead to references and interviews. Probably still better even if they aren't in your practice area. You just have to be more creative in your email and ask

[Anonymous User]

Alumni Partner for sure - say you want to talk about the firm in general (if they were in a relevant practice group, then you would say you want to talk about their practice).

[Devlin]

Def. alumni partner.

[Anonymous User]

Alumni Partner for sure - say you want to talk about the firm in general (if they were in a relevant practice group, then you would say you want to talk about their practice).

When the firm is not hiring (or won't hire in the foreseeable future) an entry-level position, why would they want to spend time to discuss the firm in general? I am asking this because I just want to get a job there as a recent graduate and partners would know my "real" intention and I don't want to make them feel like they wasted their time for meeting with me...

[Anonymous User]

I did the same. I think the hiring partner will just forward your email to recruiting so no different than just applying online. Alum partners are much more willing to grab coffee and talk which can lead to references and interviews. Probably still better even if they aren't in your practice area. You just have to be more creative in your email and ask

How about just cold-emailing my resume, rather than meeting up for coffee? Would still alum partners be a better choice, although they might sit on my resume, not even forward it to recruiting coordinators/hiring partners?

[Devlin]

Alumni Partner for sure - say you want to talk about the firm in general (if they were in a relevant practice group, then you would say you want to talk about their practice).

When the firm is not hiring (or won't hire in the foreseeable future) an entry-level position, why would they want to spend time to discuss the firm in general? I am asking this because I just want to get a job there as a recent graduate and partners would know my "real" intention and I don't want to make them feel like they wasted their time for meeting with me...

If they like you they may know of other firms looking to hire and could recommend you. You need to build your network and cast a wide net. You never know how it will pay off.

[Anonymous User]

I did the same. I think the hiring partner will just forward your email to recruiting so no different than just applying online. Alum partners are much more willing to grab coffee and talk which can lead to references and interviews. Probably still better even if they aren't in your practice area. You just have to be more creative in your email and ask

How about just cold-emailing my resume, rather than meeting up for coffee? Would still alum partners be a better choice, although they might sit on my resume, not even forward it to recruiting coordinators/hiring partners?

What good would that do? You want to network and meet them so that they will vouch for you. If all your doing is sending your resume and nothing more, might as well just email HR directly